


A Hard Goodbye

by BlackHawksChild



Series: Moments [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, NYPD AU, One-Shots which are all linked in some way, rated for later chapters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 16:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4145046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackHawksChild/pseuds/BlackHawksChild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"... the memories we remember..."</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hard Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> This is three years old. It was the first fanfiction I ever wrote but never published. So be nice, please. It is a complete AU of Marvel, I only borrowed Clint, Natasha, Edith and Barney. Clint-centric with reference to Natasha and their children, Rose and Liam.
> 
> All trolling and flaming are reported and then ignored. So please, if you don't like what I write, don't read it. I didn't write it exclusively for one person.

The young child ran towards the elderly man, grinning and laughing as he moved. His grandfather chuckled, his voice deep with age. He reached out and caught his grandson in a loving hug, ignoring the creaking of his age-worn bones. The three-year-old placed his small, chubby hands on the older man's stubbled face, grinning as he babbled away in the only way a three-year-old could. His naturally spiky was pointing every which way, a result of only waking up from his nap a few minutes before spotting his granddad. "Well, Clint, where's your mother?" the older man asked, smirking when his namesake twisted slightly in his arms and pointed to where Edith was pushing the pram.

The old man grinned at his daughter as she finally arrived to where he was sitting with her son. She shook her head playfully at her son's enthusiasm, the energetic child not bothering to wait for her once 'Grandpa' was in his line of view. "Just like you when you were his age," her father always told her. She tried to tame her son's spiky brown-blonde hair but it wasn't to be. He got that from his father and big brother.

"Play?" the three-year-old asked hopefully, pointing towards the small playground in front of them. His big blue-grey eyes almost bugling out of his head as he looked up at his mother and grandfather, his lower lip sticking out in a pleading pout.

"Stay in my line of sight," his mother replied as her father set the little boy back down on his feet. The three-year-old quickly took off, heading straight for the slide. The brown and red leaves of the fallen Autumn trees littered the path, crunching under the three-year-old's feet as he ran through them, laughing at the joy he gained from it.

"They get big too quickly," the seventy-two-year-old stated, his voice full of nostalgia. His comment earned a chuckle from his daughter. She glanced at her father, taking in his appearance. His rich brown hair had faded over the years into an almost snowy white. His once strong and handsome face had also felt the hardships of age and life, his skin wrinkled with years of worry and hard work. He had raised her and her three brothers with love and care but was strict on them also.

"Your mother would've loved to have met her first grandsons," he replied, his voice breaking at the memory of his wife of fifty-seven years passing away ten years previously. His daughter smiled at him sadly, knowing how much her father missed her mother. She took his hand gently in hers, squeezing it reassuringly as they watched her son have fun on the slide. "I know that I won't be here for all of his life. But I want to enjoy every moment I have left to spend with him," he confessed to her, earning a bigger smile from him.

"Dad, you're the apple in Clint's eye. So you don't need to worry about not enjoying your moments together."

* * *

Clint watched as his grandfather showed him how to repair the old pick-up truck's engine. The truck was ancient. But it was his grandfather's pride and joy. He had restored it from scratch. "Grandpa," the ten-year-old started, watching as the older man began a coughing fit, a result of the chest infection he was currently under the weather with.

"Don't worry about me, Clint," the old man replied once his breathing was back to normal. "I'm fine. It's just a small infection. I'll be fine."

Clint raised an eyebrow but said nothing. His mother always said his grandfather was a stubborn man. And arguing with the seventy-nine-year-old was pointless.

"Okay, Grandpa. But we promised Mom we'd go into town and get her the groceries before dinner. And dinner's in an hour. So we gotta get going now," he stated, not sounding like a ten-year-old.

His grandfather smirked at him. "You're spending so much time with me, you're starting to sound like me, Clint."

"I was named after you, Grandpa. It shouldn't be so surprised that I do."

"Cheeky."

Clint only smiled. As they made their way to the grandfather's car, the two discussed the latest sports news, bantering about who was going to win the respective titles. And neither the ten-year-old nor seventy-nine-year-old could be happier...

* * *

"Clint!" Edith called as she stood at the back door. The sixteen-year-old in question looked up from where he was digging in the backyard. Noticing the distressed look on his mother's face, Clint dropped the shovel and ran back up the yard until he reached his mom.

"What's wrong, Mom?"

"Grandpa Clint was rushed to hospital. They think he's had a heart attack," she informed him, watching her son's face fall at the revelation.

"Will he…" the sixteen-year-old started but trailed off, not wanting to finish that train of thought.

"We have to get to the hospital," she replied, her voice straining from unvoiced emotions. The same emotions reflected in her youngest son's blue-grey eyes. "I've already called your brother. He'll meet us there."

He nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment. Clint didn't even notice as the Heavens opened, the heavy rain drops hitting the ground in a monsoon….

* * *

Clint bit his tongue as he watched his mother speak with the doctor outside the room. His brother, Barney, had already left to find coffee, unable to deal with the foreboding silence of the hospital room.

The constant slow 'beep, beep, beep,' of the heart monitor was driving Clint insane. He continuously glanced at his grandfather, noting the different tubes he was hooked up to; the heart monitor, the ventilator, the IV bags. Everything needed for life support.

"The doctor says that we need to make a decision whether or not to turn the machine off." Edith's voice interrupted her youngest son's thoughts. Looking up, the sixteen-year-old witnessed the tears falling down her cheeks. "He's completely brain-dead. And his organs are failing."

"How long was he sick like he was?" Clint asked, mentally going through all the little details. How did he miss all of the signs?

"He's always had heart problems, Clint. Long before you and Barney were born," Edith replied, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around him. He was a good foot taller than her – something he got from his father – so it looked comical despite the circumstances. He wrapped his own arms around her waist, his chest numb with the thought of losing his grandfather.

"Can… Do we have time to say goodbye?" he whispered hoarsely, his voice breaking with grief.

"Of course," Edith whispered, letting him go so he could say his goodbyes. She watched with pride and remorse as her youngest son said goodbye to her father. The sixteen-year-old, she couldn't help but think, was almost a carbon copy of the eighty-five-year-old. The brown-blonde hair, blue-grey eyes that were always sharp and observant, broad shoulders and the same height. Even their attitudes were practically the same.

Edith glanced up at the owner of the comforting hand on her shoulder, smiling sadly at her oldest son. Barney returned her smile, glancing at his little brother. Barney, too, had taken after his grandfather with the exception of his darker, reddish-brown hair. She thanked God that her father had gotten the chance to influence her sons in the right way.

* * *

Clint smiled as he set the bouquet of roses in front of the headstone. "Hi, Grandpa," he started, his fingers trailing over the letters of his grandfather's name. "I know it's been a while since I came to visit you but as you always said ' _better late than never_.'" He chuckled to himself at the memories. "I wanted to say thank you. Your advice over the years has been the best advice I could ask for. It gave me the confidence to join the marines. And then to join the NYPD when I got back from tour. To marry Nat, despite questioning why she'd ever say yes. And yesterday," he spoke, smiling at his own words, "Yesterday, Grandpa, I became a father. Natasha and I. Well, Natasha gave birth to twins. A baby girl, Rose - we named her after your wife - and a baby boy, Erik - after your second name"

Clint took a breath. "I miss you, Grandpa. You were always there. You were a constant rock in my life. Mom misses you. Barney misses you. We all miss you. I promise you that I'll be a good father to Rose and Erik. Just like you were to Mom and my uncles. And when the time comes, I'll be a good grandfather too."

Standing up, Clint glanced up at the bright blue sky. "Can I ask you one more favour, Grandpa? Can you look out for the rest of us while you're up there? And you can enjoy being reunited with Grandma at the same time." Smiling one more time, the twenty-eight-year-old turned and made his way back down the grassy rows to the road, the path covered with the fallen leaves as Autumn began to fall and the weather changing slowly in accordance. The sun shone brightly in the blue sky, the light rain that had been forecast nowhere to be seen...

**Author's Note:**

> Any good?
> 
> Also, to anyone reading my other stories, I have been busy with exams and health issues and I haven't had the time to catch up with them. But I will be updating at least one within the next week. I'm sosorry for the delay. My stories will be compliant to CA:TWS but not to the rest of the MCU. Instead, I will be borrowing bits and pieces from Avengers Assemble ( Cartoon ). See you all soon :)


End file.
